


The Dragon Within

by Huntress79



Category: Captain America (Movies), Hawkeye (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Adopted Children, Alternate Universe - Dragons, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Shapeshifters, Family, Happy Ending, Hurt Bucky Barnes, Hurt Clint Barton, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Protective Clint Barton, Same-Sex Marriage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-01
Updated: 2019-09-01
Packaged: 2020-10-04 23:03:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20478926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Huntress79/pseuds/Huntress79
Summary: A dragon with a human soul, trained by the evil to be nothing more than a weapon of mass destruction. An archer, lost in the world in more than one meaning. A chance meeting that might turn the tables for both of them. Or: how Bucky and Clint met and fell in love.





	The Dragon Within

**Author's Note:**

  * For [weaselett](https://archiveofourown.org/users/weaselett/gifts).

> Written for the [AU Exchange](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/AUExchange2019/profile) and [weaselett](https://archiveofourown.org/users/weaselett/pseuds/weaselett). Set in a fantasy world. Bucky starts out in his dragon form, but stays in his human form later in the story. Pairings: Bucky/Clint, Steve/Sam, Natasha/Carol (mentioned). I hope you like it!

*********************

_Once upon a time…_

Night over the forest.

The dragon, though it was mostly kept in a dark, cold cave, loved the night. If nothing else, it meant that all the humans were gone for some time, and he could try to find some sleep. Which was a task itself, since the humans always forced him to eat and drink funny-smelling and -tasting things. And it wasn’t as if he could fight them. Some of them had long sticks, and whenever he tried to fight his way to freedom, they used them on him, leaving more than one hot-burning wound in their wake.

Somewhere deep down in the farthest corner of his, rather mushy, brain, the dragon knew that once upon a time, he led a different life. He also knew, somehow, that he could change into a human being himself, though he had no idea why he couldn’t anymore. It probably was connected to all the experiments they did on him over the years, and the long periods of being kept in the cave with no contact to the world outside also didn’t help.

Suddenly, a somewhat broken sound came from the entry to the cave. While this entry was large enough for any regular human, it was quite on the narrow side for any decent-sized dragon. So, he only squeezed himself through it when he was forced to. The sharp rocks cut into his scales, and on most days, he barely had any feeling in his left paw.

The sound came closer, and the dragon got scared. What if that one, very vicious human had come back? The one that always started to smile when he ordered them to use the sticks on him? The dragon hated him, and he promised himself that once he knew how to get rid of them all, he would incinerate that guy, until nothing was left of him.

From his end of the cave, the dragon tried to peer into the pitch black of its surroundings, but to no avail. Usually, dragons had the ability to see at least some contours, even in the darkest places, but apparently, being kept so long in one place had, more or less, “killed” that ability, along with others the dragon knew were the norm with others.

At long last, a shape became visible in the dying light of the campfire the humans had left behind. And to the dragon’s joy, it didn’t look like any of the other humans he got to see on a regular basis.

This human was decked out in some kind of armor, but unlike his captors, this armor bore an eagle-like symbol. As the dragon watched on, it realized that the human was wounded, if the limp and the way it dragged itself along the cave wall were any indicators.

Somehow, the human made it to the campfire, almost faceplanting into the ground when it tried to sit down. For some moments, the dragon feared it was dead, since it didn’t move at all, but then, he saw miniscule movement of the human’s chest, indicating that it still was breathing.

After some more moments of catching his breath, the human somehow managed to sit up, though the grunts coming from him were definitely on the painful side. Whatever had happened to him had quite incapacitated him, and for the first time in a long time, the dragon wanted to help.

All of a sudden, the wounded man whipped his head around, and only then the dragon realized that it must have made a sound. Old-instilled fear reared its ugly head, and so, the dragon tried to make himself as small as possible.

“Hey,” the man croaked, “hey, it’s okay, I’m not afraid of you.” He crawled closer, which only made the dragon even more afraid. Whenever people came closer before, they either wanted him to go out and do their bidding, or they wanted to hurt him. And the dragon didn’t know if it could take it anymore. Nonetheless, the man still crept closer, until he could touch the dragon’s right paw.

“See, I’m not going to hurt you.” The man’s voice dropped deeper, as if he was talking to a child. “Is that what’s happening here to you? Do the people who left this fire burning hurt you?” The dragon made a noise, and the man patted his paw in a calming manner. “Alright, here’s the plan. I’m gonna get you out of here. Such a magnificent being like you should be free, not kept in a cold cave.”

With that, the man crept away, and for the first time, the dragon felt something like hope blossoming in his soul. Were there really humans who cared for his kind? Were there even other dragons left? The other humans never said anything about others, at least not around him.

The opposite site of the cave from the dragon was kind of a storage for all the supplies humans needed. The man went through pretty much everything, until he gave a small whoop of triumph and went back to the fire. Once there, he began to patch himself up, and only now, the dragon saw the extent of the wound. It was short above the man’s left hip, and looked a lot like a sword wound.

“Ah, better,” the man sighed, though the dragon couldn’t quite understand how this unruly batch of dressings could make any difference. As far as he knew, human wounds needed to be tended to by a doctor. Though the reason how he knew that exactly left him somewhat puzzled.

“Oh, and by the way, my name is Clint,” the man said while limping back to the dragon’s side. “Okay, now on to how to get you out of this rotten place.” He held up one of the armor jackets of the dragon’s captors, showing the emblem on it to him. “These people are bad, no, they are evil, and judging by the equipment here, they are not just treating you bad, they are downright torturing you. My masters,” he gestured to the emblem on his own armor, “they can help you getting better. And if not, I’ll take my leave and retreat to my homestead farther West, and help you on my own.”

The dragon couldn’t believe any of Clint’s words. Sure, it sounded like a dream come true, but how could he be sure if the man wasn’t like the others and he only would change from one prison into the next?

Without any warning, the dragon suddenly felt a strange feeling creeping up his spine. Strange it was, but somehow, calming as well. He also felt his whole structure changing in some way, and before he knew it, he had transformed back into his human form, causing Clint to stumble back a few feet, his eyes blown wide.

“Holy Mother,” Clint stuttered out, his eyes constantly roaming over the dragon’s naked form. Shaking himself, Clint finally got out of this stupor, shed his armor jacket and draped it over the other man’s shoulders. He then led him over to the campfire, pressed him gently down until he was sitting and started to roam through the equipment again, this time for some trousers.

“Hey, do you understand me?” Clint asked while handing the garment over.

“Y… yes…,” the dragon grounded out, his vocal chords hurting after being out of use for so long.

“Damn Hydra,” Clint swore before sitting down gingerly. “I mean, we already know that they have their dirty mitts in everything bad you can imagine, but trapping a dragon shifter, and on top of that torturing him, that’s a new low, even for them.” He looked over to the dragon. “If you’re a shifter, do you maybe remember your name?”

The dragon thought about it. “Thanks” to the ill-fitting food and drinks he got over the years, his memories had vanished, one by one. But once in a while, he could retrieve a bit, a glance of something from what seemed to be a different life.

“Bucky?” He tried the name on his own tongue, and once it felt not so strange to him, he said it again, this time a bit louder. “Bucky… I think.”

“Okay, that’s good." Clint gave Bucky a soft smile. "And even if it’s not your real name, we can clear that once I got you to safety.”

“Where?”

“We’re near the border to the kingdom I serve, Shield Court. Though we don’t really have a king per se. Currently, the man on the throne is going by the name of Nick Fury, and he doesn’t want to be called ‘king’ at all. He always says he’s more of a groundkeeper than anything else.”

“Army?”

“What?” Clint gave back, feeling a bit thrown off.

“I have to serve your Army?”

“No, not at all. I mean, you can, but that would be your decision, and yours alone. I signed up because we get paid regularly, and since I have to support my brother’s kids somehow, it was better than any odd job on the fields or in the workshops.”

“You’re free?”

“Yeah, of course. Sure, I have to attend certain meetings of the court, or have to be on time for any assignments, but the way I do them is my own decision, as well as the way I lead my life.”

The way Clint talked about it, it sounded way better than what Bucky had gathered about the military of his captors. No wonder they all were walking around with a constant frown on their faces.

“Can you lead me to them?”

“Of course, and now that you’re human, it makes it easier to get out of here. But first,” Clint gingerly got to his feet, “let me grab some supplies and other things.”

In one corner, he found some leather bags, and in no time, the two had them filled with medical supplies, garments, some weapons, food and other things they would need on their way over the border. At last, they doused the fire with sand, and left the cave.

Outside, Bucky took a deep breath. The air here in the forest always had its own scent, and even after that long time of being confined to the cave, he still had the sense memory of it in his nostrils.

“Come on,” Clint gently urged, “if I’m not terribly wrong, sunrise is not that far away anymore. And we don’t want to run into any of them, right?”

Bucky only nodded, though he felt the urge to transform back to his dragon form and incinerate everything here. But he hoped that he might get the chance at a later date.

*********************

_Present day_

“And that’s how Papa and I met, pumpkin,” Bucky finished while smiling down at Wanda, sitting in his lap. She and her twin Pietro were, like Bucky himself, victims of Hydra, and when Lord Anthony, one of the land’s most known merchants and inventors, brought them over from the castle, both Bucky and Clint didn’t hesitate to take them in. And the kids paid them back hundredfold with love and laughter.

“No way,” Pietro piped up from his usual seat on the floor at Bucky’s legs.

“Sure way, Speedy,” Steve Rogers threw in from the doorway, taking the scene in front of him in with a fond smile. When he got the news of his childhood friend Bucky being found after so many years, he never, ever would have thought that his pal would end up here, in a happy marriage, with five kids that adored him and a husband that gave his best for him, again and again.

“So you made it over the border with no problems?” Wanda asked again, her brown eyes large.

“More or less.” Bucky tried to play it down, but the perfectly timed arrival of his husband derailed that plan in a heartbeat.

“Well, only if you count him,” Clint gestured at Bucky before sitting down next to him, “transforming back to his dragon form right in front of our soldiers and me collapsing from exhaustion as minimal problems.”

“Could have gone worse,” Steve gave back. “If not for Nat and me, Bucky might have ended up in our prison.”

“Guess you’re right, pal.”

“As he always is,” Sam Wilson added while joining his husband in the doorway. “Alright, guys. Nat, Carol and Lila are waiting for a certain girl to join them.” He gave Wanda a playful wink, to which the girl reacted with a giggle. “And you, young Master Barnes-Barton,” he addressed Pietro, “have a day full of adventure with the two of us,” he gestured between Steve and him, “ahead of you.”

Sam barely had finished his little speech before Pietro got up and lived up to his nickname, hurrying down to the room he shared with Cooper and Nathaniel and coming back to the living room in record time, much to the amusement of everyone.

“What?” Pietro looked around at them all before settling his gaze at Steve and Sam. “Let’s go!” He was already halfway down the hall to the main entrance before he came back, rushed to his fathers, embraced them, and told them “Have a wonderful anniversary!”

A few minutes later, the house was unusually silent. Even Lucky, the one-eyed dog that, more or less, had “happened” about Bucky and Clint on their escape and was now an equal member of their ragtag family, barely made a sound.

For a few moments, both men were lost in their thoughts. If somebody would have told Clint 12 years ago that he would settle down, have a wonderful, highly attentive husband and an absolutely wonderful family with the best circle of friends a man could ask to boot, he would have called that person crazy. But here he was, and while the past decade wasn’t without its trials and tribulations, especially for Bucky, but also for him, they had come through it all, drawing strength from all the love they had for each other.

Bucky on the other hand was mostly stuck on one thing from the past decade – how seemingly everyone, from Clint and Steve, to Sam, Natasha, Carol, Nick and Tony, heck, even other kingdoms like Wakanda or Asgard, had rallied around him, helping him in every thinkable way to get a second chance on life despite all the bad things he was forced to do as a Hydra captive and the consequences his long captivity had on his body.

“So,” Clint began, leaning into his husband of ten years, “any plans, Buck?”

“Yep.” Bucky got up. “Come on, my love.” He held out his hand, and without a second of hesitation, Clint took it, let Bucky lead him out in the woods behind the house.

On a small clearing, Bucky had prepared a small feast for the two of them. Their common favorite blanket, one that they got early in their relationship, was spread out near the small river that bordered their property, laden with delicious foods. Halfway to that, Bucky stopped them.

“I know, it’s our wedding anniversary, and I wanted to celebrate it at the same place where we exchanged vows a decade ago.” While speaking, he shed the burgundy shirt he was wearing. “And if it’s okay with you, I want to go even farther and bring back the way we met.” With that, he also shed his trousers and transformed back to his dragon form.

Like back in the cave all those years ago, Clint couldn’t tear his eyes from the magnificent “beast” his husband was in his animal form. Most of his scales were a deep shade of metallic blue, almost black – except for his left arm, which was in a mesmerizing shade of silver-blue, glinting in the sunshine. And if he wasn’t already head over heels for this outstanding man, he definitely would have fallen right now. Their love was one for the books, that was for sure.

*********************

**The End **

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End file.
